Chapter 18 #2
The conversation turned to whether the others had any progress.
Colin had been fortunate to make headway with Coco, but it seemed the rest were still struggling.
Rafe reminded them that they still had their back-up plan—offering an agreement to a potential partner whereupon termination of the marriage, the divorcee would be set up for the rest of their lives.
“Yes, but that is cold, and Grandfather wants us to find love.” Matt piped up.
There was an edge of sarcasm in his voice that Jacob understood.
They all knew their grandfather had earnest intentions on wanting them to find that fairytale love, but forcing them to get married wasn’t the wisest decision bringing that about.
Colin seemed to have lucked out. Even though the relationship had started with blackmail, Jacob had noticed a genuine change in his brother. Particularly the way his eyes would light up when he talked about Coco. It wasn’t a plot for him anymore.
As the brothers prodded Colin on his true feelings, he dropped new information on them: that their grandfather seemed to be smitten with Coco’s grandmother. Jacob smiled; it seemed the Barbados excursion was beneficial for more than just Colin.
“So that’s why Granddad said he had to go away for business when I called, and when I asked him about what, he told me to mind my business.” Matt laughed.
Jacob sat up straighter in his seat, suddenly reminded of a previous issue to discuss. “Which reminds me, how did the business with Normack go in London? And thank you for going in my place. Did he consider working with us?”
Matt nodded, no longer focused on his cell phone. He’d shifted into business mode. “Yes, our law department is going over the contract that Normack sent over from London and I am due to fly out again in two weeks to discuss our next step if the contract is okay.”
“When did you go to London?” Colin looked between them, a frown on his face. Jacob wasn’t sure why he looked bothered; he had his own affairs to deal with.
“Two months ago. When Jacob was searching for Sierra.” Matt’s expression shut down suddenly and Jacob peered at him.
He hadn’t had much time to catch up with his brothers, but Colin had mentioned Matt acting strangely for the past couple of months.
He’d thought it was about Nova but wasn’t so sure now.
“Did anything happen with the client, because how come we are now just hearing about it?” Rafe interjected.
Matt clammed up for a second until the rest of the brothers jumped in again with the third degree.
They kept pressuring him until Matt blurted out, “No, there was just one night when Nova was ignoring my calls. I started drinking at the hotel and then didn’t want to be alone, so I went to the nearest bar down the street from the hotel.
Everything is a blur. I had too much to drink and I—”
“We’re here.” Colin interrupted as the limousine came to a stop. As he moved to exit the car, he added, “We can talk more about this later.”
“Never mind.” Matt huffed, shutting down again. “There is nothing else to discuss. I just drank too much and went back to the hotel to sleep it off.”
Colin looked like he wanted to respond but then he heard from outside the open door. “Welcome to the V, Mr. Norris.”
Jacob exited behind Colin, not wanting to be cooped up in the limousine anymore, especially with his thoughts of Sierra.
The rest of Colin’s entourage soon arrived and the attendants began the task of gathering the luggage and setting the party up with their hotel rooms. One of Colin’s friends exclaimed, “Let the bachelor partying begin!”
He had a feeling this weekend was going to be interesting because “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Who could tell what trouble they might get up to. Would one of their groups get a tattoo of some random chick or end up visiting Elvis in a chapel and getting married?
After they got checked in, Jabob called home to see how Kaitlyn was doing.
He’d barely gotten his hellos in before Kaitlyn brought up where Sierra was going to stay after the surgery.
He’d promised to talk to her about it when he got home, but she kept insisting that she needed to move into the home, not in the guest house.
“I love having Mommy here and want her to stay, please?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and could feel a headache coming on; he never got headaches. This situation was spiraling out of his control, and he didn’t like it, not one bit. “Yes, okay, sweetheart, can we talk about it more later—”
“Mommy! Daddy says you can stay with us!” his daughter shouted out in happiness; her excited giggles followed and then he heard Sierra’s breathy tone floating in the background before she picked up the phone.
“Jacob, I did not put her up to this, I swear. I will come up with some excuse as to why I can’t stay.”
Outside the room, he heard his name being shouted; he cursed, telling her he had to leave for dinner plans and then added.
“It’s okay we can talk about this later.
I believe you. Kaitlyn knows I can never really say no to her.
In that way, she is kind of like you.” He said tiredly and he heard her draw in a breath.
He’d spoken without thinking and hadn’t meant it the way it sounded. He muttered a low curse. “I didn—”
“It’s okay, it sounds like someone is getting impatient, we can talk later. Do you want to talk to Kaitlyn again?”
“Yes, let me say goodbye.”
After getting off the phone with his excited daughter, he got up to go and get dressed for dinner.
Already this night had dealt it firsthand to him and he knew that this was not the end to the surprises that awaited him.